The Western US is an empire built on snow. And that snow is vanishing.<\/p>\n
Since most of the region gets little rain in the summer, even in good years, its bustling cities and bountiful farms all hinge on fall and winter snow settling in the mountains before slowly melting into rivers and reservoirs. That snowmelt, often traveling hundreds of miles from mountain top to tap, sustains the booming desert communities of Las Vegas, Phoenix and Salt Lake City \u2014 even coastal Los Angeles and San Francisco. A civilization of more than 76 million people, home to Silicon Valley and Hollywood alike, relies on snow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe snow in the mountains is this incredible gift that created California,\u201d said Spencer Glendon, founder of climate outreach initiative Probable Futures and former director of investment research at Wellington Management. \u201cNobody would build all of that stuff in a climate that was on the brink of being a desert.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dangerously high temperatures<\/a>\u00a0in the Pacific Northwest and California\u2019s\u00a0deadly<\/a>\u00a0McKinney Fire flung\u00a0the Western states\u2019 changing climate back into the national spotlight this past week, and it only gets tougher from here.\u00a0With the Southwest gripped by its\u00a0worst drought<\/a>\u00a0in 1,200 years, there\u2019s less precipitation of any kind these days across the region, especially the crucial frozen variety with its multi-month staying power. Rain, as desperately as it\u2019s needed, isn\u2019t quite the same: Unless it goes into a lake or reservoir, it won\u2019t be available for weeks or months in the future, the way snowmelt can be.\u00a0What little\u00a0winter precipitation does arrive now often\u00a0lands as rain and runs off, long gone by summer. The West\u2019s mountain snowpacks have\u00a0shrunk<\/a>, on average, 23% between 1955 and 2022.\u00a0By the end of the 21st century, California could\u00a0lose<\/a>\u00a0as much as 79% of its peak snowpack by water volume.<\/p>\n Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Western US, which gets little rain in the summer, relies on its fall and winter snow for survival. But that precipitation is dwindling, and the economic fallout could be dire https:\/\/t.co\/xRG3XP7D3d<\/a> — Svein Tveitdal (@tveitdal) August 4, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n
The End of Snow Threatens to Upend 76 Million American Lives<\/p>\n